A new post by me on the Mishcon de Reya website, looking at whether GDPR and the DPA offer the potential for challenges to A-level results.
UPDATE: 14.08.20
A rather odd statement has just been put out by the ICO which suggests that Ofqual have told the former that automated decision making didn’t take place. I’ve updated the Mishcon piece to say this:
The ICO has now issued a statement saying that “Ofqual has stated that automated decision making does not take place when the standardisation model is applied, and that teachers and exam board officers are involved in decisions on calculated grades”. This appears at odds with the statement in Ofqual’s “Privacy Impact Assessment“, which states that the process does involve “automated elements as well as human elements”. Whether this means that the Ofqual standardisation model did not involve “solely” automated decision making will no doubt be determined in the various legal challenges which are apparently currently being mounted.
Oddly, the ICO also says that concerns should be raised with exam boards first, before the ICO will get involved. This does not immediately appear to be in line with the ICO’s obligation to handle complaints, under Article 57 of GDPR (which doesn’t say anything about data subjects having to raise concerns with someone else first).
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